“Dry” has become a familiar term at Iowa State. Members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity will be even more familiar with the word by the year 2000.

Phi Gamma Delta, an international collegiate fraternity with 6,300 undergraduate members in 125 chapters and more than 10,000 alumni, has announced it will ban alcoholic beverages from its college houses.

“Alcohol has too much influence on today’s college students and our members. We must take action against it,” said Douglas H. Dittrick, president of Phi Gamma Delta’s governing board.

Phi Gamma Delta joins Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Nu, two other major international fraternities, in setting a deadline of July 1, 2000, for making their houses alcohol-free.

Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Nu announced their decisions earlier this year.

FarmHouse and Alpha Sigma Phi are already dry fraternities at ISU. The governing committee of Phi Gamma Delta started talking about going dry at its national conference in the summer of 1995.

The board adopted the substance-free resolution in mid-August of this year and began informing alumni, undergraduates and parents of the decision.

Mike Penake, a senior in finance and accounting at ISU, said, “Rush has been dry for the last few years and it has worked to our advantage — maybe this will do the same.”

Mike Kliegl, a junior in computer engineering, said, “If you’re signing for the drinking, then you’re signing for the wrong reason.”

One of the major incentives for fraternities to go alcohol-free is to cut insurance costs, Penake said. “Fraternities have one of the highest liabilities of any organization,” he said.

Penake said upkeep of the house also is a benefit of being dry. “Whenever you have people drinking, it is hard on the house,” he said.

In the past, there have been numerous incidents of fraternity members dying in alcohol-related accidents.

This has influenced Phi Gamma Delta’s decision to go dry, Penake said.

Dittrick said some members have raised objections about the ban, but “these concerns have not dissuaded the board from reaffirming Phi Gamma Delta’s mission.

“We exist to promote life-long friendships, affirm high ethical standards and values and foster personal development,” he said.

Kliegl and Penake agree some chapters were unhappy about the decision, but they believe it is inevitable.

“You can’t just snap your fingers and have a major change, but we accept it,” Kliegl said. “Anytime you have a big change like this it’s going to be hard.”